This post is really quite unrelated to theology, except for the fact that while I've been writing my latest book, I've also been hankering for a snack around 3pm. Often, the snack I most desire is one of the new Starbucks cake pops. One little one, once a week, is not terrible for my bank account or my waistline ($1.50/190 calories for one of these yummy treats) but 2-3 a week is. Even more disastrous if I were, oh, to cave in to these desires every day. (I suppose here I could cue in a post on desires, versus true desire for God, but really, I'm feeling very much a member of the earthly city here ;-))
So I decided to try to remake these. I used a chocolate cake mix, and some Weight Watchers' tips for making the cake lower in fat - applesauce, egg whites, water, instead of whole eggs and oil. Once the cake was completely cool, I crumbled it up and stirred in 2 cups of whipped cream, to make the cake totally mold-able. I rolled this dough into 45 small balls and froze them overnight. (Tip: I HAD wanted to put lollipop sticks in them, but forgot to do that until they were frozen. Ah well, next time. Those of you who want to do real cake pops, be sure to put in the sticks before freezing.) (Edited to add: the sticks I bought were actually reusable party drink stirrers in different colors that I found in the picnic section of the grocery store. I am told that lollipop sticks are available at hobby stores but those are rather far away from where we live....)
Then, I got my preschool helper, and we chose some toppings for our cake pops. We put out coconut, nuts, and sprinkles. Then we melted chocolate candy coating in the microwave for about a minute and 15 seconds. We dipped the frozen cake balls into the chocolate and then rolled them in the topping(s) of choice. The result was delicious yumminess that adds up to about 20 cents a pop/70 calories. And they are really good and really, really rich.
Added bonus: it was a great kid project for our morning.
*** Store these in the freezer, not the fridge. I'm planning to take one or two to work every day for that 3 pm craving. :-)
